Published 5:30 am, Friday, August 10, 2007

Rosa Isela Contreras-Dominguez, a legal permanent resident facing deportation for a felony drug conviction, was seven weeks pregnant when she lost consciousness at a federal detention center in El Paso on Tuesday night and died at a local hospital.

The 35-year-old mother of five from Juarez, Mexico, was the second death in immigration custody reported this week.

Edmar Alves Araujo, an illegal immigrant from Brazil, died Tuesday in Rhode Island, shortly after being taken into federal immigration custody.

Araujo's family members told the media after his death that immigration authorities ignored warnings that the 34-year-old had epilepsy and needed medication.

Lizbeth Morales, a niece of Contreras-Dominguez, said her family was trying to cope with news of her death and waiting for results of the autopsy report.

An attorney representing one of Contreras-Dominguez's cellmates called Morales on Wednesday, she said, and reported that her aunt had complained of leg pain before her death, raising questions about the quality of medical care.

"I don't know what really happened in there," she said.

"I've thought about filing a complaint," Morales said, but decided to wait for more information.

"Nothing is going to bring my aunt back," she added. "It's just sad."

The deaths come amid growing scrutiny of the health and medical care provided to immigration detainees.

The ACLU charged that the care in San Diego has "on several occasions resulted in death." In one such case, according to the ACLU, a Ghanaian man suffering obvious chest pains was denied treatment and was ordered to submit a written sick call request shortly before his death.

In Texas, the ACLU has sued over an ICE facility in Taylor for immigrant families, alleging inadequate health care and psychologically abusive guards.

ICE says the facility, run by a private prison operator, is a humane alternative to separating parents and children as they fight deportation or seek asylum.

An autopsy was scheduled for Contreras-Dominguez on Thursday, but the report was not yet ready to be released to the public, according to the El Paso Medical Examiner's Office.

Leticia Zamarripa, an ICE spokeswoman, did not provide information on Thursday on the number of deaths in ICE custody in recent years.

She said Contreras-Dominguez was given a full medical examination after she was taken into custody Aug. 1.

The detainee was given "prenatal medication," Zamarripa said, but she did not know what specifically that was.

History of blood clots

At 8 p.m. Monday, Contreras-Dominguez went to the detention center's medical facility, where she was given a snack, according to ICE records.

Zamarripa said Contreras-Dominguez then said for the first time that she had a history of blood clots during pregnancy and had pain behind her knee.

Zamarripa said Contreras-Dominguez was taken Monday night to a hospital in El Paso and held overnight. On Tuesday, the detainee returned to the ICE center and was placed in medical housing unit for observation, Zamarripa said.

At 8:22 p.m. Tuesday, officials at the immigration detention center called emergency services after Contreras-Dominguez lost consciousness.

She was pronounced dead at 11:22 p.m. at a hospital in El Paso, Zamarripa said.

2005 drug conviction

Contreras-Dominguez was stopped April 12, 2005, at the port of entry in El Paso, driving a 1999 Ford pickup. She had her five children in the car, according to court records.

After a drug-sniffing dog found marijuana bundles in a spare tire, Contreras-Dominguez said she was told she would be paid $500 to smuggle the drugs across the border, records show.

She pleaded guilty in November 2005 to illegally importing a controlled substance and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

After her release, she was picked up by an ICE fugitive team, and was facing deportation based on her drug conviction.